Shop Made Knife Hinges

Knife hinges. These things are hard to find. When I did find them, I found out they were over $20 a pair!! So I decided to try and make them. Normally they would be made entirely of brass, but I used what I could find (and afford) which was a flat piece of hot rolled steel 5/8” by 1/8” by 36” in dimension. I started by marking out the piece for each half of the hinges and the holes. I drilled all of my holes, then countersunk the screw holes so the screws could sit flush. I then cut the sections tediously with a hacksaw and set the pieces aside. I bought a short brass rod and cut it up for the pins. I used a ball peen hammer to rivet the two hinge halves together with the brass pins. Then, a lot of grinding, filing, and polishing later I have a nice looking knife hinge to use on future projects.

Great idea, and they look good too. I always love the thought of making my own hardware. If you are looking for other metals, I have always found the prices at Online Metals to be decent and they have always been good to work with.

i think it was cool to use something other than brass. They didn’t sell the brass strips at the Ace in my town, but they had steel and aluminum. I’d like to try em with aluminum for a light door some time, plus it would make the task of machining and cutting easier. Copper would be cool to use, possibly letting it oxidize to get that green color.

Also, I think the American Woodworker website (http://americanwoodworker.com/) has some plans for knife hinge making in one of their back catalogs, which you can read for free.